Talk:History of medicine

V. detailed traditional chinese medicine section
Hi all, the section on traditional chinese medicine is a bit too detailed for a top-level history of medicine article.

Have moved this information to the traditional chinese medicine article instead. Copied below for easy access.

Historiography of Chinese medicine

When reading the Chinese classics, it is important for scholars to examine these works from the Chinese perspective. Historians have noted two key aspects of Chinese medical history: understanding conceptual differences when translating the term 身, and observing the history from the perspective of cosmology rather than biology.

In Chinese classical texts, the term 身 is the closest historical translation to the English word "body" because it sometimes refers to the physical human body in terms of being weighed or measured, but the term is to be understood as an "ensemble of functions" encompassing both the human psyche and emotions. This concept of the human body is opposed to the European duality of a separate mind and body. It is critical for scholars to understand the fundamental differences in concepts of the body in order to connect the medical theory of the classics to the "human organism" it is explaining.

Chinese scholars established a correlation between the cosmos and the "human organism." The basic components of cosmology, qi, yin yang and the Five Phase theory, were used to explain health and disease in texts such as Huangdi neijing. Yin and yang are the changing factors in cosmology, with qi as the vital force or energy of life. The Five Phase theory Wu Xing of the Han dynasty contains the elements wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. By understanding medicine from a cosmology perspective, historians better understand Chinese medical and social classifications such as gender, which was defined by a domination or remission of yang in terms of yin.

These two distinctions are imperative when analyzing the history of traditional Chinese medical science.

A majority of Chinese medical history written after the classical canons comes in the form of primary source case studies where academic physicians record the illness of a particular person and the healing techniques used, as well as their effectiveness. Historians have noted that Chinese scholars wrote these studies instead of "books of prescriptions or advice manuals;" in their historical and environmental understanding, no two illnesses were alike so the healing strategies of the practitioner was unique every time to the specific diagnosis of the patient. Medical case studies existed throughout Chinese history, but "individually authored and published case history" was a prominent creation of the Ming dynasty. An example such case studies would be the literati physician, Cheng Congzhou, collection of 93 cases published in 1644. Jamzze (talk) 12:19, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Sub sections deletion or split
The regional histories of medicine would best be served in their own articles (and some already have their own); they don't need to be on the main History of Medicine page as well. I wouldn't object to a very broad overview of a short of "global" history of medicine (as an introduction), but my concern is that duplicating the information on each region unnecessarily bloats this page while under-serving each of these topics in their own right. I fully intend to write a "general overview" sort of thing for this page, but I wanted to ask the opinion of others before removing large amounts of information. (Particularly if those pages have caretakers more familiar with their subjects than I!) Laldowaldo (talk) 21:59, 12 January 2023 (UTC)

Sounds entirely reasonable to me (though I haven't contributed to this page, so far!) Kitb (talk) 23:24, 12 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I do object to "removing large amounts of information" and a "broad overview", neither of which are necessary at this point. Khirurg (talk) 16:31, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 23:08, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Karl Landsteiner 1930b-cr2.jpg

If Medicine traditions were found in Babylon,China,India how did Baghdad have one of the earliest records of having a hospital.
(Hi everybody i am new here ) i have a question. If Medicine traditions were found in Babylon,China,India how did Baghdad have one of the earliest records of having a hospital i did a internet search and found this {The earliest general hospital was built in 805 CE in Baghdad by Harun Al-Rashid.} feel free to teach me, i am eager to learn from anyone Mohnish Senapati (talk) 15:14, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Opening image collage
I see that before September 2022, there was just a single, simple image in the lede section, File:HippocraticOath.jpg. I'm not saying that's the best image to necessarily use, but it's been replaced by a collage of 9 (!) images that display at postage-stamp sized on desktop, and scroll a screen or two's worth of space on mobile. IMO, collages need to be used with caution. It's better to have just one or two really good images than to have a ton of images. I've used an opening collage myself, but only for a case where the visuals were both very relevant and very distinct, making it difficult to pick just one. The images picked here are just overkill.

Any objections to going back to just one image, or at least fewer images? Or suggestions for the one image to use? SnowFire (talk) 23:50, 17 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I went ahead and boldly removed them. If anyone wants to restore the images where appropriate elsewhere throughout the article, go for it.  SnowFire (talk) 23:34, 21 April 2024 (UTC)